Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from beak.andrew.cmu.edu via trymail for +dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl@andrew.cmu.edu (->+dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl) (->ota+space.digests) ID ; Mon, 17 Dec 1990 01:43:23 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Mon, 17 Dec 1990 01:42:53 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #671 SPACE Digest Volume 12 : Issue 671 Today's Topics: ASTRO status at 8/08:30 MET (the final report) Astro-1 Status for 12/08/90 [0100 CST] (Forwarded) Who killed Nuclear Rockets? (was Re: The Next Ten Years In Space) Re: The Space Plane X-30 Astro-1 Status for 12/09/90 [2030 CST] (Forwarded) Magellan article Galileo Update - 12/03/90 Re: Magellan article Administrivia: Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to space+@andrew.cmu.edu. Other mail, esp. [un]subscription notices, should be sent to space-request+@andrew.cmu.edu, or, if urgent, to tm2b+@andrew.cmu.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 10 Dec 90 15:33:40 GMT From: uvaarpa!murdoch!news@mcnc.org (Greg Hennessy) Subject: ASTRO status at 8/08:30 MET (the final report) The ASTRO mission is rapidly coming to an end. The last exposures are being taken now, of Comet Levy. The weather is causing an early return, which is a disappointment. The instruments are really working well, and great data is being taken. Shift 16 had observations of Z-Cam, the erseus cluster, M49, 3C273, M3, M32, M33, Markarian 335, Pi Aqr, Kappa Cas, and C48D1557. Shift 17 observed Jupiter, NGC1316, Omega Cen, U-Gem, NGC2146, M81, Betelgeuse, HD200775, HD7252, and N49A+B. Shift Scheduled Obtained Percentage Notes 6 345 54 17 7 418 163 38 Startracker patched 8 429 189 44 9 428 247 57 10 36 8 4 2nd DDU died 11 343 187 55 12 397 200 50 13 350 181 51 14 371 216 58 15 256 186 72 16 414 269 71 17 334 289 86 It is apparent that ASTRO kept on getting better as time went on. I hope that there is another Astro mission. If people would write to their congressman or to NASA, and tell them that they support the ASTRO project (after all, the hardware is paid for), there can be a second mission. -- -Greg Hennessy, University of Virginia USPS Mail: Astronomy Department, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475 USA Internet: gsh7w@virginia.edu UUCP: ...!uunet!virginia!gsh7w ------------------------------ Date: 8 Dec 90 20:19:34 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/08/90 [0100 CST] (Forwarded) Astro 1 Mission Report #34 01:00 a.m. CST, December 8, 1990 6/00:10 MET Spacelab Mission Operations Control Marshall Space Flight Center As the sixth day of the Astro mission draws to a close, Assistant Mission Manager Stu Clifton smiled as he said: "The atmosphere here is one of jubilation as significant science continues to be made from the mission data acquired thus far." All four Astro telescopes were very busy Friday night as each one successfully acquired a number of targets. Among those viewed by the three ultraviolet telescopes was Jupiter. Later, the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope collected data on NGC 1535, an expanding planetary nebula. And the Broad Band X-Ray Telescope science team was pleased with spectral data received from the retargeted Supernova 1987A. "On the tally sheet of the human spirit, Astro is already a resounding success," said Dr. Chris Anderson, co-investigator of the University of Wisconsin's Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo Polarimeter Experiment, Friday afternoon. Anderson was speaking of the ability of the Columbia crew and ground teams to overcome the technical difficulties encountered during the mission. ------------------------------ Date: 9 Dec 90 19:34:59 GMT From: rochester!sol!yamauchi@rutgers.edu (Brian Yamauchi) Subject: Who killed Nuclear Rockets? (was Re: The Next Ten Years In Space) In article <36682@cup.portal.com> mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson) writes: As we near the end of another year, let us celebrate the vision of the pioneers of our space program. The following quotations come from THE NEXT TEN YEARS IN SPACE 1959-1969, Staff Report of the Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1959). ----------------------------------------------------- [Brig. Gen. Boushey, USAF] the advantages of nuclear rocket propulsion are so great that I believe this type rocket engine will also receive priority emphasis and will be developed within the 8- to 10-year time period. [Arthur C. Clarke] In the decade 1960-70 I think we may expect the following with a very high degree of assurance, almost amounting to certainty: Flight tests of nuclear propulsion devices. [Dr. Walter R. Dornberger, Bell Aircraft] In the powerplant field, the following _will_ be achieved: 3. The successful development of nuclear powerplants for the upper stages. This powerplant will be used for manuvering in space. [George L. Haller, General Electric] A type of rocket now being considered for space vehicles is a high- temperature nuclear reactor through which is passed a low molecular weight propellant such as hydrogen or ammonia that is heated by the fission process and is then exhausted through a rocket nozzle to produce thrust. Since the nuclear rocket would not have to carry a high molecular weight oxidizer, it could theoretically have a specific impulse at least double that of the best chemical rocket. The nuclear heat transfer rocket might prove useful for putting large payloads in orbit (on the order of 25,000 pounds or more) and for space missions to the Moon, Mars, or Venus. [George H. Stoner, (General Manager, Dyna-Soar) Boeing] The nuclear rocket will allow us to reduce the bulk of these lunar and satellite booster systems by a factor of 8 or 10, at least. . . . Can we design a manned nuclear rocket for use in the atmosphere where radiation scattering is a hazard, and avoid the weight penalties of standard shielding techniques? A possible solution might involve the use of nuclear ferry vehicles to transport large payloads to the satellite space station. A different type of nuclear rocket with a relatively light shadow shield could then be used in space to transport men to the Moon and back. In any case, our space efforts will be rather limited in the next 10 years unless the rapid development of the nuclear rocket receives increased emphasis. With strong support, the nuclear rocket could be available for operational use by 1968, though unexpected problems in the testing and development of flight hardware could lead to delay. So it's 1990, 31 years after the projections, and over 20 years after the expected completion date, and the question is : Given that nuclear rockets were to be such a benefit for space exploration, what killed them? 1) Technical problems 2) Funding politics 3) Small-minded bureaucrats 4) Technophobic environmentalists 5) Naderite Safety Nazis What ever happened to NERVA? What was the connection between this project and the projects mentioned in the quotes above? If we had spent the money to develop the space shuttle on nuclear propulsion instead, could we have developed a practical nuclear orbital booster or lunar/planetary transfer vehicle? (Yes, I realize this is speculation, but how about an educated guess?) -- _______________________________________________________________________________ Brian Yamauchi University of Rochester yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu Computer Science Department _______________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: 10 Dec 90 18:50:33 GMT From: agate!bionet!uwm.edu!caen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!dali.cs.montana.edu!masscomp!ocpt!tsdiag!davet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Dave Tiller N2KAU) Subject: Re: The Space Plane X-30 In article 86ftsccq@SACEMNET.AF.MIL ("86FTSCCQ") writes: -X-31 MAKES FIRST SUCCESSFUL FLIGHT - The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)/U. S. Navy X-31A -Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability demonstrator aircraft today successfully -completed its first flight. - The X-31 took off from runway 07 at Rockwell International's Palmdale, -Calif., facility at 12:36 p.m. (PDT). During the 38-minute flight, the X-31 -accelerated to a speed of approximately 340 mils per hour ^^^^^^^^ Heavens, this is slow! Are you sure this isn't a nanotech fighter? :-) -- David E. Tiller davet@tsdiag.ccur.com | Concurrent Computer Corp. FAX: 201-870-5952 Ph: (201) 870-4119 (w) | 2 Crescent Place, M/S 117 UUCP: ucbvax!rutgers!petsd!tsdiag!davet | Oceanport NJ, 07757 ICBM: 40 16' 52" N 73 59' 00" W | N2KAU @ NN2Z ------------------------------ Date: 10 Dec 90 20:00:21 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/09/90 [2030 CST] (Forwarded) Astro-1 Shift Summary Report #24 8:30 p.m. CST, Dec. 9, 1990 7/19:40 MET Spacelab Mission Operations Control Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL "Things are functioning rather routinely and everybody's starting to loosen up," said Astro-1 Mission Scientist Dr. Ted Gull towards the end of this period (noon to 8 p.m. CST Sunday). His remark captured the mood at this point in the mission. Gull's comment did not imply any slacking off or slowdown in the scientific effort, however. The pace of activities continued to be intense as crewmembers aboard Columbia along with ground-based members of the payload and orbiter support teams attempted to complete as many astronomical observations as possible before the end of the mission. The four specialized telescopes and their pointing systems continued to operate with virtually no anomalies today, so that most observations began only a few minutes into the "window" of observing time. One of the few technical glitches during this period came when team members for the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT), working in the science operations area of Spacelab Mission Operations Control-Huntsville, saw that their instrument's experiment computer, the UIT Dedicated Experiment Processor, had "crashed." Some quick ground commanding brought the processor back on-line, and since it occurred between observations, the glitch did not cause any loss of data. Continuing their efforts to further streamline operations, crewmembers on Columbia and their ground-support teams used this shift to try a new combination of procedures for resuming automatic target acquisition and tracking. Since loss of the second of two Spacelab data display units or computer terminals earlier in the mission, acquisition and tracking have been done by an alternate procedure known as contingency target acquisition. The automatic acquisition, or "IDOP," was successful for beginning and maintaining observation on the star Pi Aquarii shortly after 3 p.m. That accomplishment allowed mission planners to consider using the automated procedure more routinely during the remainder of the mission -- a change which would ease the telescope-pointing task for the Shuttle crew. Routine operations of the three ultraviolet instruments and the separately mounted X-ray telescope resulted in a steady accumulation of data today. During most of the observational opportunities. in this period, the ultraviolet telescopes pointed at one object, while the Broad Band X-ray Telescope was pointed at a nearby target. The result was a total approaching 20 successful data-takes for the 8-hour period. ------------------------------ Date: 11 Dec 90 04:19:03 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) Subject: Magellan article The Washington Post Venus Appears Volcanically Active By Kathy Sawyer "The Magellan robot explorer has sent back data showing that the face of Venus is not an ancient death mask, like those of Mars and Mercury, but has been remodeled piecemeal by volcanic flows, scientists reported today." The Sawyer piece quotes JPL/Magellan chief scientist Steve Saunders "Venus is not dead. ...It did not shut down 400 million years ago." Only Earth and two planetary moons, Jupiter's Io and Neptune's Triton are known to exhibit any form of volcanism, according to the Post. The first scientific papers resulting from Magellan's initial data were presented at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. Included in the Post report was evidence of volcanism reported at the meeting. This included unexpected smooth areas on the Venus surface, vast expanses without craters. Rapid volcanic resurfacing could hold the answer to the riddle that craters are not being found in the process of being resurfaced. The Post reported that Venus' rate of resurface, 0.1 cubic mile per year, is far outpaced by Earth which has an output of 7.7 cubic miles a year. Said Southern Methodist University's Roger Phillips, "Maybe only 10 percent of the planet is active at any one time." Other evidence gathered included some volcanoes with craters nearby and some without; a wide variety in the thickness of the molten rock flowing on Venus; indicating possibility of Venus quakes, the story revealed. Said Brown University's James Head, "it's Christmas every day," referring to the evidence after years of waiting for planetary scientists, according to the Post. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| | | | | __ \ /| | | | Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ Jet Propulsion Lab | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| M/S 301-355 | |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ Pasadena, CA 91109 | ------------------------------ Date: 11 Dec 90 04:02:43 GMT From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@apple.com (Ron Baalke) Subject: Galileo Update - 12/03/90 GALILEO STATUS REPORT December 3, 1990 Things are going well with the Galileo spacecraft. The relay radio hardware oscillators were successfully powered on November 30 in preparation for the planned Probe checkout on December 4. In addition to the powering of the relay radio hardware oscillators on November 30, several other Galileo heater electrical loads were successfully configured. Today, the Command Loss Timer will be reset from 4 days to 3 days, its planned value for this mission phase. Tomorrow, the Probe checkout, system functional test, will be performed. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| | | | | __ \ /| | | | Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ Jet Propulsion Lab | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| M/S 301-355 | |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ Pasadena, CA 91109 | ------------------------------ Date: 11 Dec 90 16:29:14 GMT From: cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo!henry@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Magellan article In article <18459@hydra.gatech.EDU> mb7@prism.gatech.EDU (Michael Begley) writes: >I would have thought that the surface would not show craters simply due to >erasion from weather. Wouldn't thousands of years of winds tend to smooth >and fill the smaller craters? Would a denser atmosphere than Earth result >in faster erosion? Is the principal cause of erosion on Earth attributed >to water and rain only? Our geography prof sprung that one on us as a puzzler: "In temperate areas, the major cause of erosion is water. What's the major cause of erosion in the desert?" The answer: "water". Wind erosion is almost insignificant by comparison, here. -- "The average pointer, statistically, |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V12 #671 *******************